This Awkward and Incomparable Thing
by miss a.j
Summary: ZEKE/RYAN, ZEKE/SHARPAY. Zeke is dedicated to Sharpay Evans. But then there is Ryan Evans. And that's where things get complicated.
1. Prelude

Sharpay Evans is the finest specimen of a woman that Zeke has ever known. She is much smarter than people give her credit for, and, when other people aren't looking, he's seen her do the nicest things. Even though she has more money, talent and looks than most people at East High have combined, she still takes the time out of her day to talk to the commoners such as himself.

Of course, her taut, curvy, hot body, beautiful, shiny hair and perfect _everything_ don't hurt, especially when he thinks about these things near _his_ body.

The only thing is, she's harder to reach than a free throw from the opposite side of the court. He thought that, after prom, they would end up seeing each other more. Would end up talking late night hours on the phone. Would end up going to get food together. Would end up _baking_ together, even. Would end up doing those high school things that he had been saving just for her, the "parking," the skipping class to make out, holding hands in the hallway. There is only a month away before graduation, and he had yet to have a public girlfriend.

Zeke is _dedicated_ to Sharpay Evans.

And then there is Ryan Evans.

And that's where things get complicated.

Ryan Evans is a genuinely good person. He is open, inviting, calm, hilarious. He has a smile that is contagious, warm. And, if Zeke can say it and keep his masculinity, he is pretty good looking, for a man.

But all of this still doesn't excuse Zeke's dream from the other night, where blonde hair wasn't so long anymore, where brown eyes became blue, where soft became hard, so hard.

Maybe he is just having a nervous breakdown before graduation? He is going to miss his friend, even if they aren't exactly close. He's going to miss _everybody_, and when he thinks about how far away Troy is going to be, he gets at least a little bit choked up.

Of course, getting choked up isn't the same as wondering what it would be like to _kiss_ Troy.

And then we're back to the complicated part.

It would be too easy to say that Ryan is related to Sharpay, and so there is a connection, and so a few wires got crossed, because the two are so completely separate in his mind. Sharpay is the girl he has been following ever since she flipped her perfectly trimmed hair at him in the fifth grade when he asked to borrow a pencil. Ryan is the boy that he wasn't allowed to talk to in fifth grade because _none_ of the boys were talking to Ryan because Ryan was _gay_. Sharpay is the girl who lives her life as though she is Barbie and the rest of the world were all Lisa Lionhearts. Ryan is the boy who, after following his sister, finally broke out of his shell, proved his worth, made himself noticeable.

Maybe Zeke is thinking about it too much.

His head hurts.

And he's horny as he's ever been.

Maybe he could stop thinking about it so hard, he thinks, as he shuts the light off and lets his hand drift south. After all, as long as he doesn't do anything about it, blonde is blonde is hot.

Right?


	2. Chapter One

Approximately four weeks before school ended and three minutes after Ryan (finally!) finished deciding which outfit he would be wearing on his first day at Julliard (the pink pants from the show, his matching hat and a nice, soft-blue cardigan the collar bones he had been working on for, oh, _forever. _Besides, cotton-candy colors were in, and if he was going to make a statement it might as well be the right one.), and two seconds after his Brown Sugar Pop Tart came out of the toaster, Zeke rang the doorbell at the Evans house.

Not that Ryan knew it at the moment. If he did, he probably wouldn't have answered the door in his Wildcats sweatpants and white undershirt with the Pop Tart hanging from his mouth.

"Oh, hey Ryan," Zeke said, shifting from foot to foot. Ryan's mouth opened in surprise, causing a particularly awkward moment when the pastry fell onto Zeke's (new?) high-top Nike shoes.

"Oh! Oh my God, I'm so sorry," Ryan gushed, kneeling down to pick up his fallen dinner.

"Um, it's okay," Zeke started, avoiding eye contact with the once-again upright Evans boy. "Is Sharpay around?"

"Oh!" Ryan squeaked. Suddenly her emergency trip to the salon made sense, as well as the way she ran into Ryan's room four times to ask his opinion of her breasts in different shirts, much to his dismay. "So _you're_ her date."

"She called it a date?!" Zeke exclaimed, throwing a surprised hand to his chest. Ryan choked back laughter; _so_ closeted, or at least a little curious.

"Yeah. But, judging from your outfit, I'm assuming you didn't know."

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Zeke asked, pulling at his black polo. True, he didn't look half-bad; the shirt with his dark jeans and Nike shoes was incredibly, mind-blowingly hot.

"Well, nothing _really_. I just don't think that the little French restaurant you surely made reservations to will allow it as dress code."

True, he was just messing with Zeke (and wanted to see how far he could make it go), but it was all worth it to see his hand clamp around his mouth in horrified surprise.

"But… I thought maybe just a movie…" he gasped, almost in tears. Ryan smiled and put his hand on Zeke's shoulder, pushing his back towards his car.

"Don't worry, I got it covered," he said, pulling out his phone to call in an emergency reservation at their family's favorite restaurant. "But first, we need to get you dressed again."

Sharpay wasn't back by the time the boys returned to the Evans house, this time with a decked-out Zeke. Ryan was a _genius_, he decided; after all, he could barely keep his eyes off the tall boy, who was in an all-black dressy ensemble. The only thing missing was the pink tie that Ryan had in his room.

"You really didn't have to give me cookies," Ryan said as he pushed open the door to his room. It was a simple room done in shades of off-white and pale blue. Zeke smiled and sat down his bed (no bad thoughts, Ryan, no bad thoughts, no bad thoughts).

"It's my pleasure!" he said. (Was that Ryan's imagination or was he _blushing_?)

"Come on," Ryan said, motioning for Zeke to come over to the set of double-doors on the east end of the room. He did, puzzled; this was nothing compared to the beautifully shocked look on his face when Ryan opened the door to his impressively well lit walk-in closet.

"This is like in 'Sex and the City'…" Zeke gasped as he walked in. Ryan sniggered, walking down the long aisle to the three rows of ties he had hanging on the accessories wall.

"_You've_ seen the 'Sex and the City' movie?" Ryan asked. Now he _knew_ Zeke was blushing for sure this time.

"I live in a house full of women?" he said with a shrug. Ryan didn't know that.

"Well, speaking of sex, kind of," Ryan started, holding up two pink ties to Zeke's neck decide which shade looked better against the shirt. "You're not planning some kind of 'Superbad' thing with my sister, are you?"

"_You've_ seen 'Superbad'?" Zeke asked, blushing even harder. God, he was getting cuter by the second, and Ryan knew those fleeting images he has peeked of Zeke changing would be helping him out for the next few months until he was in college and finally had a chance at a real boyfriend.

"I _am_ a boy," he pointed out. Zeke laughed as Ryan slipped the better tie around his neck and began to tie it. Zeke visibly stiffened, and Ryan remembered. _I am gay. An Untouchable._

"Sorry," he said, backing away. Zeke was looking at the ground.

"It's cool," Zeke mumbled. Ryan sighed at his stiff and unmoving body. After waiting a moment, he turned to leave.

Before he was grabbed, pushed against a rack of his favorite shoes, and kissed, _hard_.

There were noses bumping, teeth clacking, and his lips were dry. Zeke's hands were clutching Ryan's arms too tightly, and his erection was pushing awkwardly into Ryan's hip.

But God, it was _hot_.

Ryan pulled his arms away from Zeke to pull him closer in, standing on his toes to reach Zeke's lips better. Tongue slid against his bottom lip, and Ryan let out an audible moan, making the fingers in his hair tighten.

"Ryan!" Sharpay yelled from his main bedroom, making the two boys jump apart from one another. Ryan looked at the door, terrified, as his sister, all decked out (as usual) peeked her head in. Her mouth opened in a wide "o", and for a moment Ryan was sure the two were caught.

Not that he felt frightened of people in school knowing. He just knew Sharpay would pull his hair out with her perfectly-manicured nails.

"Zeke! You're already here!" she gasped. Ryan sighed in relief as his sister gave Zeke the once-over, approved, and smiled alluringly at him. Despite himself, Ryan felt a jealous tug at his heart.

"He's here, with reservations to your favorite restaurant."

"Perfect! Let's go!" she said, grabbing Zeke and running out with him.

Ryan stood in the closet, waiting for Zeke to look back.

He never did.

Ryan sighed, turned around, and started straightening up the shoes that now littered the floor. He didn't know what he was expecting.


	3. Chapter Two

Ryan did _not_ have a thing for Zeke. He did _not_. Because having things for straight boys was not his thing, at least not since Jr. High when he found himself looking at Chad a little too closely. (It's the hair?) Not that Ryan was completely sure that Chad is straight, what with _the hair _and the girlfriend who is obviously a lesbian, but that's totally not even the point.

And the point is: Ryan did _not_ have a thing for Zeke. Because Zeke is straight, and totally hot for Ryan's _sister_.

Except straight boys do not kiss like _that_.

And now we're confused again.

But the point is, Ryan did _not_ wait up after his sister left with the boy he had just kissed, waiting for bad news, hoping against hope that she would come home, crying, dramatically announcing that Ryan had won: he could have Zeke. He was just watching The Daily Show and laughing at Jon Stewart's clear comedy genius.

Right?

But then, it wouldn't be _so_ bad to think about Zeke. He was that kid that was always adorably taller than everybody else. The skinny kid who had, well, blossomed after a summer at the gym right before their senior year. The nice kid who always looked out for his teammates, his friends, was always there with that dazzling smile and shoes to match his shirt and a tray of cookies…

Okay, so Zeke was kind of adorable. And Ryan may or may not have been letting himself feel something.

But then, Zeke was _also_ that kid with the body, the amazing arms, that beautiful skin, and the hothothot tongue that did this little flick against Ryan's that gave him an instant-

Okay, yeah, _definitely_ feeling something.

The door slammed shut, and Sharpay came into the room, flopped down and changed the channel to MTV. True Life was on, and Sharpay never missed a chance to see people with terrible lives, even if she _did_ miss the choking noise Ryan made as he grabbed a pillow and put it over a, well, embarrassing situation.

"How was the date?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Huh?" Sharpay said intelligently. Ryan cringed and tried to not slap his sister in the face.

"Zeke."

"Oh, the tall boy!" Sharpay laughed. "He was so awkward. I totally can't take him anywhere." She paused, watched the drug addicts crying on the television.

"He's probably a good kisser, though," she said.

"_Probably?_" Ryan choked out, as his heart, he noticed, stopped beating quite so loudly.

"Well it was our first date, Ryan, I wasn't going to kiss him until I know he's… acceptable."

"He took you to prom," Ryan pointed out.

"Yeah, but that was _convenient_," Sharpay said pointedly. "I mean, he's hot and all, but he's so… middle class."

Before Ryan could scratch her eyes out, his phone buzzed. It was a text from Zeke. Now his heart was pounding again, as he hoped against hope that it was a text to say "jk hate ur sister luv u lets get 2gether yeh yeh yeh."

"wat did she say?" is what it actually said.

That was close enough.

Ryan cringed and wrote back, "she didn't say anything. sorry :("

It was a step closer, anyway. They _texted_ now.

Ryan had a perfectly good reason for hanging around the Home Ec room after school ended. And that reason was: to see Zeke.

Duh.

Ryan stood outside the doorway, watching Zeke's arms as he stirred the bowl of batter, imagining his hands were doing something else, commiting to memory the way the muscles moved under his skin for his… special time, later.

And then Zeke looked over at him.

Don't panic.

Zeke smiled, and started walking over.

_Panic_.

In Ryan's mind, Zeke was walking over to kiss him. They would hold hands as they walked down the corridors at school. Everyone would talk, but they wouldn't care. They would get married. Adopt two children, a boy, and a girl. And they would have hothothot sex all the time, everywhere in their three-story house in Connecticut.

"So has she said anything yet?" Zeke asked when he finally reached Ryan.

Well, it wasn't exactly a three-bedroom house in Connecticut, but remember: they _texted_ now. They didn't _need_ "hello."

"Um, not yet," Ryan answered, awkwardly. Zeke's face fell, and Ryan couldn't help but want to kiss it.

"What does that mean?" Zeke asked, shifting his weight to his other foot. There was a spot of flour on his nose, and it took everything in Ryan's might to not lick it off his face.

Even though that would taste disgusting. Sacrifices have to be made for sexiness!

"Don't worry about it," Ryan babbled, distracting himself from the flour. "You're a great guy and I'm sure she'll see it. I mean, she's selfish, but she should see it. Everybody sees it. How great you are. You know what I mean? You're great. So she'll see it. And if she doesn't then _she's_ not great, you know what I mean? So everything will be great."

When he finally stopped, he noticed that Zeke was staring at him.

Panic!

"Um, there's flour on your nose," he said, finally. Zeke darkened and swiped at his nose, taking away the flour, and thereby ending all of Ryan's fantasies of mouth-to-nose related activities.

Sexy?

"So yeah, I gotta go," Ryan said, weakly.

"Oh, okay. I'll text you later!" Zeke shouted after Ryan's quickly retreating form.

Ryan's heart fluttered. He had almost forgotten. There was still hope!

After all: they _texted_ now!


End file.
